LSU on losing end of BCS' winning formula

Barring upsets, unbeaten USC, UT to leave 11-1 Tigers out of title picture

Published 6:30 am, Friday, December 2, 2005

For the moment, it appears the flawed BCS system will work again. Assuming Texas toys with Colorado in Houston and USC is up to the challenge UCLA presents, LSU's efforts in Atlanta on Saturday will go for naught.

The Longhorns and the Trojans, the nation's lone remaining unbeaten teams at the highest echelon of football's amateur ranks, will play for the national championship in the Rose Bowl, providing the cleanest and tidiest of conclusions to the current season.

The Tigers? They will return to the Georgia Dome and play for fun once more, in the displaced Sugar Bowl. One fatal fourth quarter against Tennessee in Death Valley, set against the tragic, chaotic backdrop of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, cost the Tigers, under the reins of first-year coach Les Miles, an unbeaten season and their realistic shot at a second national title in three seasons .

LSU, 10-1, goes against Georgia, 9-2, for the SEC championship just three points shy of a perfect season. Vis-à-vis the national championship, it might as well be 300.

Focus is on future

"We can't dwell on the past," said LSU's leading rusher, senior
Joseph Addai
, the
Sharpstown High School
graduate. "It's been a strange (season). I think we've overcome a lot of things. We should be thankful for what we've got."

The devastation caused by Katrina turned Baton Rouge and LSU's campus into a virtual refugee camp, postponing the home opener against North Texas and forcing the Tigers to play what would have been their second home game against Arizona State in Tempe. Then, even the Tennessee game would have to be pushed back 48 hours, from a Saturday night to a Monday night, when Louisiana got smacked again by Rita.

LSU seemed to ride an adrenal rush to a 24-7 lead through three quarters before suffering one of the cruelest and least expected collapses in school history, given the setting and the circumstances. The Vols scored 17 unanswered points to force overtime, in which they trumped a Tiger field goal with a touchdown, winning 30-27.

"We played like a joke out there in the second half, an absolute joke," said LSU tackle Kyle Williams afterward, expressing the raw disappointment felt by the entire team. "It was nothing they did and it was everything we did. It was a complete and total breakdown."

Much irony, of course, stems from how badly the Tigers wanted that victory for their fans, who needed something, anything, to provide a source of joy, and from how bad Tennessee proved to be, finishing out of the bowl picture altogether at 5-6.

"Looking back, had we had North Texas and Arizona State at home, that would have been the ideal way to start the season," Miles said. "That may have affected how we played the Tennessee game. I would like to think that if we had two games in our stadium the outcome would have been a little different. Then again, I coach for LSU and I look at it that way."

Wins kept coming

The Tigers recovered, however. Their subsequent weaker opponents would be summarily crushed, and they showed fortitude, if patches of inconsistency, in eking out close victories over the strong ones, defeating both Auburn and fourth-ranked Alabama in overtime while hanging on desperately against Florida and Arkansas.

As a result, after winning 10 games in 10 weeks — no open dates — they bring a No. 3 ranking to Georgia with them.

Which also might as well be No. 300 if Texas and USC take care of their business.

But Addai, whose own sprained ankle suffered against Arkansas last weekend could limit his availability against Georgia, has maintained a positive perspective through the trauma and turmoil surrounding his football team. He, for one, won't dismiss a nearly perfect season as something for the LSU family to be ashamed of.

"People needed us," he said, "and I think we gave them something."

All the Tigers would, of course, prefer to be trying the punch their tickets to Pasadena Saturday night, but Miles insists there's still plenty to accomplish with what they hope will be two trips to Atlanta.

"This team has achieved a lot considering the unusual (circumstances) in Louisiana," Miles said. "We feel very fortunate to be in a position to achieve a great majority of our goals and to be playing for a championship."